Click here to subscribe today or Login.
PLAINS TWP. — After a tumultuous regular season, Coughlin resembled shades of last year’s district championship team.
Eighth-seeded Coughlin looked to be in old form in a 6-1 victory over No. 9 Honesdale Tuesday in the first round of District 2 Class 3A Girls Soccer playoffs. The Crusaders advance to face nemesis Dallas, the top seed, in the district quarterfinals on Thursday.
Kendall Pearage led Coughlin with four goals, with her fourth coming in the 76th minute. She took an Abby Majeski pass, faked to the right to deke the goalkeeper out of position before shelving into the net.
“Kenny was fantastic. She gives us everything she can every single game,” Coughlin coach Desiree Kreidler said. “She has fantastic footwork. We’re most successful when she is successful.”
Coughlin’s chances at reclaiming its throne looked dire for the first 38 minutes. Honesdale scored from Lilah Armody via Sophie Goyette in the 10th minute, and the Hornets held possession at their offensive end for the majority of the first half.
“I don’t think anything went necessarily wrong in the first 40 minutes,” Kreidler said. “We’re a young team. I think it was getting nerves out. At halftime, we picked everything up and got them refocused.”
Skyler Panattieri controlled a through pass on the left flank. She maintained her tempo and placed it into the net to even the score in the 39th minute.
One minute later, Pearage gave the Navy and Red a 2-1 advantage off of a penalty kick with six seconds remaining in the first half.
“I wasn’t worried when we went down 1-0,” Kreidler said. “But that second goal after the equalizer to go up in the second half allowed us to put on more pressure up front.”
Momentum, coupled with a center-mid positioning change at half, paid off for Coughlin. It outscored Honesdale 4-0 in the second half and allowed just one scoring chance.
Honesdale let the game slip away with two defensive lapses. A weak goal kick went straight to Pearage, who neatly placed it in the far-side upper 90 from the 18 yard line in the 49th minute. Two minutes later, Kara Rasimus kicked a ball at net that was misplayed by the Hornets’ keeper. Her grasp was too loose and the ball scooted into the goal for a 4-1 Coughlin lead.
Honesdale goalkeeper Sadie Wood and defender Rachel Musetti recovered to keep Coughlin out of the net in the 65th minute. On a 4-on-1 situation, Musetti kept the ball from going over the line, and Wood made a brilliant dive for one of her 12 saves.
Coughlin had three saves from Paige Davis. Rosie McGrane prevented a shot from going in as the last defense for a team save in the 34th minute.
Coughlin will face Dallas in the playoffs for the third straight year and fourth time in five fall seasons. Coughlin crushed the Mountaineers 4-0 in the 2015 semifinal. Despite the disparity in their records, Coughlin lost each of its regular-season contests by one goal (3-2, 2-1) to the one-loss Wyoming Valley Conference champions.
“We need to continue to play as we’ve been playing— lots of pressure, lots of heart,” Kreidler said. “We need a total team effort. We’ve gotten so much better from the very first game we played.”
Crestwood 8, Tunkhannock 0
Bella Termini scored four of the Comets’ eight goals to cruise past Tunkhannock in the opening round of district play. Teammate Vanessa Atie chipped in with two goals and one assist.
No. 5 Crestwood will face Wallenpaupack on the road in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Wyoming Valley West 4,
Valley View 0
Tiffany Michalek figured in on all four Valley West goals, scoring three and setting up another as the No. 6 Spartans won their opener. Riley O’Neil opened the scoring and added two assists.
Danielle Cook and Emma Grimes combined on the shutout for the Spartans, who advance to Thursday’s quarterfinals at North Pocono.
CLASS 2A
Nanticoke 5, Hanover Area 0
The sixth-seeded Trojans peppered No. 11 Hanover Area with 40 shots in an opening-round win. Kayla Aufiero led the way with two goals while Amiah Lukowski set up all three first-half goals.
Jess Skladzien made five saves for the Trojans, who face Holy Redeemer in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Wyoming Area 2, Meyers 1
Casey McNew collected a cross from Caitlin McDonough to score the eventual game winner and advance the Warriors to the district Class 2A quarterfinals.
McNew found McDonough in the first half to put Wyoming Area on the board.
Meyers’ Erin Morris scored the Mohawks’ lone goal. She was assisted on the play by Sara Morris.
Berwick 12, GAR 1
Cassidy Eckert scored the opening three goals of the district opener as the No. 5 Bulldogs led 7-1 at halftime en route to the win. Lydia Traugh also finished with three goals for Berwick, which will face Montrose in Thursday’s quarterfinals.
Skyler Elmy had the lone goal for the 12th-seeded Grenadiers.
GIRLS SOCCER
DISTRICT 2 TOURNAMENT
Class 3A first round
Coughlin 6, Honesdale 1
Honesdale`1`0`—`1
Coughlin`2`4`—`6
First half — 1. HON Lilah Armody (Sophie Goyette) 10’; 2. COU Skyler Panattieri (Megan Gurnari) 39’; 3. COU Kendall Pearage 40’. Second half — 4. COU Pearage 49’; 5. COU Kara Rasimus, 51’; 6. COU Pearage (Panattieri) 67’; 7. COU Pearage (Abby Majeski) 76’
Shots — HON 5, COU 21. Saves — HON 12 (Sadie Wood), COU 3 (Paige Davis). Corner kicks — HON 6, COU 1
Crestwood 8, Tunkhannock 0
Tunkhannock`0`0`—`0
Crestwood`4`4`—`8
First half — 1. CRE, Nina Atie (unassisted), 13:21; 2. CRE, Bella Termini (unassisted), 11:34; 3. CRE, Termini (Vanessa Atie), 8:23; 4. CRE, Termini (unassisted), 42.4. Second half — 5. CRE, Chyanne Cook (Melissa Herrera), 36:26; 6. CRE, Vanessa Atie (Termini), 20:00; 7. CRE, Vanessa Atie (Lexi Gaetano), 7:57; 8. CRE, Bella Termini (unassisted), 5:31.
Shots — TUN 2; CRE 12. Saves — TUN 4; CRE 1. Corner kicks — TUN 1; CRE 1.
Valley West 4, Valley View 0
Valley View`0`0`—`0
Valley West`1`3`—`4
First half — 1. WVW — Riley O’Neil (Tiffany Michalek), 18th minute. Second half — 2. WVW, Michalek (O’Neil) 46th; 3. WVW, Michalek (O’Neil), 74th; 4. WVW, Michalek (Morgan Josefowicz) 77th.
Shots — VV 6; WVW 24. Saves — VV 19 (Yashinski, Muchal); WVW 6 (Danielle Cook, Emma Grimes). Corner kicks — VV 2; WVW 3.
Class 2A first round
Nanticoke 5, Hanover Area 0
Hanover Area`0`0`—`0
Nanticoke`3`2`—`5
First half — 1. NAN, Kayla Aufiero (Amiah Lukowski), 1st minute; 2. NAN, Courtney Day (Lukowski), 35th; 3. NAN, Aufiero (Lukowski), 39th. Second half — 4. NAN, Kelsey Moran, 48th; 5. NAN, Maddy Grilz (PK), 70th.
Shots — HAN 8; NAN 40. Saves — HAN 16 (Abby Thompson); NAN 5 (Jess Skladzien). Corner kicks — HAN 0; NAN 2.
Berwick 12, GAR 1
GAR`1`0`—`1
Berwick`7`5`—`12
First half — 1. BER, Cassidy Eckert (Abby Kemp), 6th minute; 2. BER, Eckert (Abby Burt), 10th; 3. BER, Eckert (Lydia Traugh), 14th; 4. BER, Whitney Switzer (Carly Belles), 16th; 5. BER, Traugh (Eckert, Belles), 19th; 6. BER, Reese Mensinger (Makayla Force), 24th; 7. GAR, Skyler Elmy, 28th; 8. BER, Belles, 39th. Second half — 9. BER, Madison Coolbaugh (Mensinger), 43rd; 10. BER, Traugh, 47th; 11. BER, Traugh, 49th; 12. BER, Kemp, 68th; 13. BER, Megan Dalo (Kemp), 77th.
Shots — GAR 2; BER 25. Saves — GAR 10 (Haley Gobla); BER 2 (Jadyn Michael). Corner kicks — GAR 0; BER 5.
